


Trail of Roses

by PhoenixSavant



Series: First Times [2]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Almost smut, F/M, Fluff, Romance, Surprises, then not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 11:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16853383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixSavant/pseuds/PhoenixSavant
Summary: Following Ray's Route: Good EndingYou've lived with Saeran for a few months now, but things aren't perfect.  Tonight might just change that.





	Trail of Roses

            Saeran looked away from his computer.  Months had passed and there was still no sign of his brother.  The house where they had lived – suffered - together was gone now.  The fire had been ruled arson, and the investigators had nothing to suggest but that it might have been someone angry about the charges brought against the prime minister.

            His eyes drifted to the blue skies overhead.  Though there had been rain almost daily for the past month, today was full of sun.  The gentle breeze drew him out to the garden to work, though he didn’t know why he bothered to keep looking for his brother anymore.  With a displeased grunt, he focused back on the laptop waiting on the table before him.  Whether he found his brother alive or found remains to bury, he couldn’t give up. 

            “I’m home, Saeran!” you called from the house. 

            He folded the screen down, and rose to greet you as you stepped out of the kitchen.  “Hello, angel.  Did you find everything you wanted?” 

            You nodded as you slipped your arms around his waist, smiling up into his aqua eyes.  “I did.  We are going to feast tonight!”  You kissed him lightly before tilting your head to the side.  “Do you want to help me cook?”

            “Don’t I always?” he smiled slowly. 

 

***

            Saeran watched you move through the kitchen, twisting and bending in the narrow space between the counters.  He still couldn’t believe you were real sometimes.  The evening sun cascaded through the kitchen window, filtering through the pale, golden curtains before pooling around your hair like a halo as you worked.  How could he have found anyone as ethereal as you?  How could you have loved him?

            “What are you smiling at?” you asked him, as a blush crept slowly up your neck.  You’d seem him staring at you.  It wasn’t that you minded the attention, you just weren’t sure what to do about it.  Despite the time that had passed, he hadn’t shown any interest in doing more than kissing you occasionally, and sleeping in the same bed.  When he watched you like that though, you couldn’t help feeling that he wanted something more. 

Why he didn’t ever make a move was beyond you, and things had gotten awkward because of it.  The fact that the relationship hadn’t progressed since the day you’d visited his childhood home was the elephant in the room, and it was growing.  Where being watched by him once left you feeling shy but excited, now it just made you feel uncertain about yourself and that was not a sensation you were used to. 

Saeran lifted your hair and pushed it back behind your shoulder.  “Just you.  The light looks very pretty against your hair.” 

“Thank you,” you murmured, dropping sliced vegetables into the pot beside you.  The blush faded quickly.  “Would you mind filling this with water?” you asked, nudging it toward him.

Doing as you had requested, Saeran frowned over the sink.  Why had he said something so lame?  When he’d seen you like he did, it felt like his heart would burst from the sight.  He’d wanted nothing more than to sweep you into his arms and kiss you until you were as breathless as he was.  So why, when asked, did he just give a casual compliment?  How were you ever going to know how much you meant to him if he didn’t say or do something to show you?  He sighed and turned the water off, lifting the pot and placing it on the stove.  He had to be stronger, braver, than this.  He wanted to be, and only hoped you would not turn him away, as the whispers in his mind promised him you would.

“Do you think you can handle the rest?” he asked, turning to you.  He frowned thoughtfully, looking beyond you to the garden.

“I can.”  You saw his frown and his distant gaze.  Telling yourself he must have had a frustrating day searching for his brother, you tucked your waist against the counter to let him pass.  To your surprise, he didn’t just walk by.  His hands appeared at your hips and his face pressed alongside your own. 

“You are my angel, my everything,” he murmured.  “I haven’t done a very good job of showing you, but I will.”

Then he was gone, back out into the garden where he always went when needing time alone.

 

***

            Your evening passed quietly, as they usually did.  Saeran was not the most talkative of people.  Dinner was shared, then cleared away.  You watched a movie, sitting chastely on the couch while holding hands.  You showered first while he did the meditations that helped him relax enough to sleep through the night.

            You stepped into the bedroom, drying your hair with a towel.  “Alright, it’s…”  You had started your routine announcement but found yourself cut short.  The bedroom was filled with roses in red, pink, and white.  Across the bed, petals scattered as if tossed by a sudden storm.  Among them was a folded piece of paper with your name written on it in Saeran’s strong hand.

            You looked around, but he was nowhere to be found.  Curious, you lifted the page and began to read.

            _My angel,_

_I wish I could find the words to express how beautiful you make my life, my world.  Whether with a simple smile, the softest touch of your hand, or the sound of your laughter, everything about you is a wondrous gift I don’t know what to do with.  I have done nothing to deserve you and I despair that I ever will._

_Yet, here you are, with me still.  When you tell me that you love me, I want to take you into myself and never let you out.  When you hum your songs to yourself while you work, I want to melt and pour myself over you.  When the wind plays through your hair I want to strike it down for being where I am not.  When you sleep beside me, I become jealous of the way the moonlight touches your body with such abandon._

_I know that you’ve encouraged me in the past, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t ready yet.  If it’s not too late, if you still want me as you once did, I want to touch you like the moonbeams I envy.  I want to pour myself over you, take you into myself, and leave your hair as sweetly disheveled as the wind I so resent._

_If it’s not too late…_

_Saeran_

            You read the letter twice, just to be sure of the meaning.  You read it a third time because you couldn’t tear your eyes away from the poetry of his words.  Then, you clasped it to your chest, slowly, and blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over.

            It wasn’t too late.  It could never be too late, not for Saeran. 

            Despite the almost spiritual choice of words, you found a sleeping hunger begin to stir inside yourself.  The idea of Saeran’s hands roaming over you like a moonbeam, combined with the blatant statement about leaving your hair a mess, quickened your breath and sped your heartbeat.  No, it wasn’t too late, but where could he be?

            You looked back out the bedroom door and saw a rose in the hallway that you hadn’t seen before.  Carrying your towel, you moved to collect it.  Beyond it, lay another, then another, marking a trail for you.  You left the roses where they were and followed them down the hallway, through the kitchen, and out into the darkness of the garden. 

            Fireflies illuminated the flower beds like slowly flickering Christmas lights.  On the table, a pair of roses waited, but still you did not see Saeran.  You felt your shoulders drop.  Had you misunderstood the meaning of his letter?

            Strong arms folded around you, pulling you back to press against a taller, warmer body.  “Is it too late?” Saeran whispered at your ear.

            You leaned into him, hugging his arms.  “Not for you, Saeran.”

            His embrace tightened as he planted a soft kiss on your cheek.  “I can’t begin to say how much I love you, how much I’ve wanted to hold you.  I’ve held back because I wasn’t sure what...”  He nuzzled against your neck.  “I wasn’t sure if you would want…”   

            You looked up to him, smiling tenderly.  “You don’t have to hold back anymore.  I’m here because I’m yours.  There’s no need to be afraid of anything between us.”

            He didn’t speak again.  He held you, still nervous about what to do.  Turning you around, he tilted your face up and kissed you softly.  This was something he knew.  He had kissed you so many times before, but tonight, he kissed you with more meaning than ever before.  He had run out of words and hoped you would understand the silent message as his lips pulled at yours and his tongue teased your mouth open.

            A wave of relief and excitement washed over you and you wrapped your arms tightly around Saeran, pulling yourself into his body.  Your tongue flicked at the tip of his when it invaded, inviting it in.  If ever a kiss could tell someone you wanted them, your response carried that message and you hoped it would be enough to push away his uncertainty. 

            Saeran moved his hands to cup your face and pulled back.  He searched your eyes for any sign of hesitation, anything that might tell him to wait.  He saw nothing but your smile – soft, welcoming, anticipating. His thumb drew a slow arc over your cheek and he felt his heart skipping beats.  The shackles of doubt and self-loathing fell away, freeing him to do as he pleased.  He responded by crushing your lips beneath his.

            When he pulled your lower lip into his teeth and bit down just hard enough that you felt blood rushing to the surface.  You felt a heat that spread through you, drawn out of your core by the magic of that single act.  Desire rose up from within you like a flock of birds rising from a field, sudden and powerful.  You gasped his name, your lips moving against his as you pressed yourself closer to Saeran’s firm chest.

            The sound of his name when spoken by you had always had an effect on Saeran.  You made it sound like a song without even trying.  All Saeran could do was respond with his body though, and tonight that was what he was finally free to do.  His fingers slid from your face to tangle in your hair and he walked you backward into the table behind you.  He leaned over you, standing between your legs, releasing your hair and allowing his hands to fly over your curves.

            He didn’t have a plan, no specific intent, all he wanted was to touch as much of you as he could before he was banished.  His fingertips found the small of your back, the curve down your hips that reminded him of a violin, the outline of your shoulder blades.  When you wrapped your arms tightly and pulled yourself into him, he groaned.  The warmth of your body filled his senses and stopped his breath. 

            You felt as if Saeran’s touch was leaving trails of flame and where they kindled, they consumed you.  How long had you been waiting for this?  You couldn’t begin to remember.  Forever seemed too short a time to account for the power of your responses.  Deep in your belly you felt a tightening that drew your spine into an arc and melded you against him.

            Saeran found himself sucking gently at your neck, but had no memory of moving from your lips.  Your skin tasted clean from your shower, and he could smell the shampoo you’d used.  His thoughts had fallen into chaos, unable to formulate even the most basic phrases.  The heat and tightness in his pants was growing increasingly uncomfortable.

Suddenly urgent, he pushed your bath robe over your shoulder.  Sparing only a moment to take in the softness of the moonlight on your skin, he drove his teeth against your flesh.  The mewling gasp you responded with drove his hips into you, as if his body had its own will, and his erection felt both relieved and further agitated by the contact.  He yanked your robe down as far as he could.

Your mind was a whirlwind of sensation.  Saeran’s teeth at your collarbone and his palm flat against your spine conspired to release a wave of slick wetness between your legs.  When he pressed against you, his length fighting to be freed from his restrictive clothing, you felt yourself throb hotly.  You let your head fall back as he exposed your body to the night air.  A sudden breeze made you shiver uncomfortably.  Against your heated skin it was almost icy, drawing gooseflesh sharply up and chasing away the heat you wanted to keep.

He felt your shiver when the wind hit, and the change in your skin.  Standing, Saeran looked down at you.  You looked so beautiful, your hair already growing disheveled as it dried, your lips swollen and open, your skin gleaming, and he didn’t want to stop.  He also couldn’t ignore the fact that you were going to be chilled and uncomfortable if things went much further here.

“Let’s go inside,” he said, forcing himself to exercise restraint again as he pulled you back to your feet and tugged your robe back into place.   Restraint was no stranger to Saeran.  Ever since leaving Mint Eye with you, he had been exercising restraint.  Tonight, however, exercising restraint felt more like fighting to contain a tiger half-released from its cage.  It snarled dangerously at him as he led you back into the house.

You leaned into Saeran’s side, moving beside him in a haze.  The softness of your robe only served to exacerbate the sensitivity of the skin it sought to shelter from the cool breezes.  You could not find it within you to want anything but to turn back and drown in the moonlight with him.  It wasn’t until he paused at the base of the stairs that you looked up.  He wasn’t watching you.  He smiled softly at the first step. 

“I’m glad you left these,” Saeran murmured.  He bent and lifted the rose he’d left at the base of the stairs.  “Each rose is something about you that I love.”  He held the stem out to you and said, “This one is your courage, how you never flinch away or run.”

Leading you up the stairs, he stopped to lift another rose.  “This one is your laughter, the best sound in the world.”  He continued down the long hallway, taking up each of the blossoms he’d left for you and telling you something else he loved about you. 

Your head had been spinning from his touch while in the garden, and now your heart felt as if it had melted and exploded at once.  You surprised yourself when you had to blink back tears.  But when he knelt and took up the last rose, he didn’t rise.  You peered down, wondering what was wrong.

Saeran looked at the scarlet petals, rolling the stem between his thumb and forefinger.  Should he?  He had thought about it many times before, but always held back, always resisted the desire to speak for fear of being rejected and sent away from you.  You had told him not to hold back though, and he had never witnessed a moment where he could not take you at your word.  Turning, he held the final rose up to you, his confidence bolstered by the trust you’d taught him to have in you.

“All the things I love about you, the things I’ve said so far, none of them mean anything without this,” he began.  “This rose is the most important one.  This is where it all began,” Saeran’s eyes flitted from yours to the flower in his fingertips like a nervous hummingbird.  He took a slow breath and brought his gaze to your face, holding it there steadily.  “You could have run away, back then.   You could have gone to Rika and begged her protection.   You could have slipped away with V,  more than once.  Instead, you stayed.  You kept telling me that you believed in me, that you trusted me.  In the end, I even gave you the choice to have Ray instead of me.  You chose me.  You’ve stayed with me since.”  He took a shaky breath.  “I can’t give you a ring, but I can give you this and my promise that I will never leave you.  Will you marry me?” 

Your breath caught and your hand flew over your mouth.  The tears you’d blinked back before fell like miniature waterfalls as you felt your heart expanding to limits you hadn’t known it could reach.  Marry him?  Marry Saeran?  You had to be dreaming.  You felt your head moving, nodding tightly as it answered the question. 

Saeran’s face began to glow, his smile reflecting surprise and joy.  He rose swiftly, his arms enfolding you and crushing you to him.  Safe, he was safe now.  You wouldn’t leave, you wouldn’t turn him away, he didn’t need to be afraid anymore.  You were his in ways he had always wanted, and so much more so than when he’d kept you locked in that room.  You were his because you wanted to be, and that made all the difference in the world.

When he led you into the bedroom, you took the rose from him, laying it gently on the dresser to be saved.  You didn’t know when you slept, only that you and he were both spent but exhilarated, and that you loved the feel of his naked body against yours as your eyes finally closed.


End file.
